February 4
This day marks the approximate midpoint of winter in the Northern Hemisphere and of summer in the Southern Hemisphere (starting the season at the December solstice). Events * 211 – Roman Emperor Septimius Severus dies at Eboracum (modern York, England) while preparing to lead a campaign against the Caledonians. He leaves the empire in the control of his two quarrelling sons. * 634 – Battle of Dathin: Rashidun forces under Yazid ibn Abi Sufyan defeat an outnumbered Byzantine force near Gaza in Palestine. * 960 – The coronation of Zhao Kuangyin as Emperor Taizu of Song, initiating the Song dynasty period of China that would last more than three centuries. *1169 – A strong earthquake struck the Ionian coast of Sicily, causing tens of thousands of injuries and deaths, especially in Catania. *1454 – In the Thirteen Years' War, the Secret Council of the Prussian Confederation sends a formal act of disobedience to the Grand Master. *1555 – John Rogers is burned at the stake, becoming the first English Protestant martyr under Mary I of England. *1703 – In Edo (now Tokyo), 46 of the Forty-seven Ronin commit seppuku (ritual suicide) as recompense for avenging their master's death. *1758 – Macapá, Brazil is founded. *1789 – George Washington is unanimously elected as the first President of the United States by the U.S. Electoral College. *1794 – The French legislature abolishes slavery throughout all territories of the French First Republic. It will be reestablished in the French West Indies in 1802. *1797 – The Riobamba earthquake strikes Ecuador, causing up to 40,000 casualties. *1801 – John Marshall is sworn in as Chief Justice of the United States. *1810 – The Royal Navy seizes Guadeloupe. *1820 – The Chilean Navy under the command of Lord Cochrane completes the 2-day long Capture of Valdivia with just 300 men and 2 ships. *1825 – The Ohio Legislature authorizes the construction of the Ohio and Erie Canal and the Miami and Erie Canal. *1846 – The first Mormon pioneers make their exodus from Nauvoo, Illinois, westward towards Salt Lake Valley. *1859 – The Codex Sinaiticus is discovered in Egypt. *1861 – American Civil War: In Montgomery, Alabama, delegates from six break-away U.S. states meet and form the Confederate States of America. *1899 – The Philippine–American War begins with the Battle of Manila. *1932 – Second Sino-Japanese War: Harbin, Manchuria, falls to Japan. *1936 – Radium becomes the first radioactive element to be made synthetically. *1941 – The United Service Organization (USO) is created to entertain American troops. *1945 – World War II: Santo Tomas Internment Camp is liberated from Japanese authority. * 1945 – World War II: The Yalta Conference between the "Big Three" (Churchill, Roosevelt, and Stalin) opens at the Livadia Palace in the Crimea. * 1945 – World War II: The British Indian Army and Imperial Japanese Army begin a series of battles known as the Battle of Pokoku and Irrawaddy River operations. *1948 – Ceylon (later renamed Sri Lanka) becomes independent within the British Commonwealth. *1961 – Angolan War of Independence begins. *1966 – All Nippon Airways Flight 60 plunges into Tokyo Bay, killing 133. *1967 – Lunar Orbiter program: Lunar Orbiter 3 lifts off from Cape Canaveral's Launch Complex 13 on its mission to identify possible landing sites for the Surveyor and Apollo spacecraft. *1969 – Yasser Arafat takes over as chairman of the Palestine Liberation Organization. *1974 – The Symbionese Liberation Army kidnaps Patty Hearst in Berkeley, California. * 1974 – M62 coach bombing: The Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA) explodes a bomb on a bus carrying off-duty British Armed Forces personnel in Yorkshire, England. Nine soldiers and three civilians are killed. *1975 – Haicheng earthquake (magnitude 7.3 on the Richter scale) occurs in Haicheng, Liaoning, China. *1976 – In Guatemala and Honduras an earthquake kills more than 22,000. *1977 – A Chicago Transit Authority elevated train rear-ends another and derails, killing 11 and injuring 180, the worst accident in the agency's history. *1992 – A coup d'état is led by Hugo Chávez against Venezuelan President Carlos Andrés Pérez. *1996 – Major snowstorm paralyzes Midwestern United States, Milwaukee, Wisconsin and ties all-time record low temperature at −26 °F (−32.2 °C) *1997 – En route to Lebanon, two Israeli Sikorsky CH-53 troop-transport helicopters collide in mid-air over northern Galilee, Israel killing 73. *1998 – The 5.9 Mw Afghanistan earthquake shakes the Takhar Province with a maximum Mercalli intensity of VII (Very strong). With 2,323 killed, and 818 injured, damage is considered extreme. *1999 – Unarmed West African immigrant Amadou Diallo is shot dead by four plainclothes New York City police officers on an unrelated stake-out, inflaming race relations in the city. *2003 – The Bengali Hindus declare the independence of the Republic of Bangabhumi from Bangladesh. *2003 – The Federal Republic of Yugoslavia is officially renamed Serbia and Montenegro and adopts a new constitution. *2004 – Facebook, a mainstream online social networking site, is founded by Mark Zuckerberg. *2006 – A stampede occurs in the PhilSports Arena near Manila, killing 71 people. *2015 – A TransAsia Airways aircraft with 58 people on board, en route from the Taiwanese capital Taipei to Kinmen, crashes into the Keelung River just after take-off, killing at least 31 people. Births *1505 – Mikołaj Rej, Polish poet and author (d. 1580) *1575 – Pierre de Bérulle, French cardinal and theologian, founded the French school of spirituality (d. 1629) *1646 – Hans Erasmus Aßmann, German poet and politician (d. 1699) *1676 – Giacomo Facco, Italian violinist and composer (d. 1753) *1677 – Johann Ludwig Bach, German violinist and composer (d. 1731) *1688 – Pierre de Marivaux, French author and playwright (d. 1763) *1725 – Dru Drury, English entomologist and author (d. 1804) *1740 – Carl Michael Bellman, Swedish poet and composer (d. 1795) *1778 – Augustin Pyramus de Candolle, Swiss botanist, mycologist, and academic (d. 1841) *1799 – Almeida Garrett, Portuguese journalist and author (d. 1854) *1808 – Josef Kajetán Tyl, Czech actor and playwright (d. 1856) *1831 – Oliver Ames, American financier and politician, 35th Governor of Massachusetts (d. 1895) *1848 – Jean Aicard, French poet, author, and playwright (d. 1921) *1849 – Jean Richepin, French poet, author, and playwright (d. 1926) *1862 – Édouard Estaunié, French novelist (d. 1942) *1865 – Abe Isoo, Japanese minister and politician (d. 1949) *1871 – Friedrich Ebert, German lawyer and politician, 1st President of Germany (d. 1925) *1872 – Gotse Delchev, Greek activist and educator (d. 1903) *1873 – Étienne Desmarteau, Canadian shot putter and discus thrower (d. 1905) *1875 – Ludwig Prandtl, German physicist and engineer (d. 1953) *1877 – Eddie Cochems, American football player and coach (d. 1953) *1881 – Eulalio Gutiérrez, Mexican general and politician, President of Mexico (d. 1939) * 1881 – Fernand Léger, French painter and sculptor (d. 1955) *1891 – M. A. Ayyangar, Indian lawyer and politician, 2nd Speaker of the Lok Sabha (d. 1978) *1892 – E. J. Pratt, Canadian poet and academic (d. 1964) *1895 – Nigel Bruce, English actor (d. 1953) *1896 – Friedrich Glauser, Austrian-Swiss author (d. 1938) * 1896 – Friedrich Hund, German physicist and academic (d. 1997) *1897 – Ludwig Erhard, German soldier and politician, 2nd Chancellor of West Germany (d. 1977) *1900 – Jacques Prévert, French poet and screenwriter (d. 1977) *1902 – Charles Lindbergh, American pilot and explorer (d. 1974) * 1902 – Hartley Shawcross, Baron Shawcross, German-English lawyer and politician, Attorney General for England and Wales (d. 2003) *1903 – Alexander Imich, Polish-American chemist, parapsychologist, and academic (d. 2014) *1904 – MacKinlay Kantor, American author and screenwriter (d. 1977) *1906 – Dietrich Bonhoeffer, German pastor and theologian (d. 1945) * 1906 – Clyde Tombaugh, American astronomer and academic, discovered Pluto (d. 1997) *1908 – Julian Bell, English poet and academic (d. 1937) *1912 – Ola Skjåk Bræk, Norwegian banker and politician, Norwegian Minister of Industry (d. 1999) * 1912 – Erich Leinsdorf, Austrian-American conductor (d. 1993) * 1912 – Byron Nelson, American golfer and sportscaster (d. 2006) *1913 – Rosa Parks, American civil rights activist (d. 2005) * 1913 – Richard Seaman, English race car driver (d. 1939) *1914 – Alfred Andersch, German-Swiss author and publisher (d. 1980) *1915 – William Talman, American actor and screenwriter (d. 1968) * 1915 – Norman Wisdom, English singer-songwriter and actor (d. 2010) *1917 – Yahya Khan, Pakistan general and politician, 3rd President of Pakistan (d. 1980) *1918 – Ida Lupino, English-American actress and director (d. 1995) * 1918 – Luigi Pareyson, Italian philosopher and author (d. 1991) *1920 – Janet Waldo, American actress and voice artist (d. 2016) *1921 – Betty Friedan, American author and activist (d. 2006) * 1921 – Lotfi A. Zadeh, Azerbaijani-American mathematician and computer scientist *1923 – Conrad Bain, Canadian-American actor (d. 2013) * 1923 – James Dibble, Australian journalist (d. 2010) *1925 – Russell Hoban, American author and illustrator (d. 2011) * 1925 – Stanley Karnow, American journalist and historian (d. 2013) * 1925 – Christopher Zeeman, English mathematician and academic (d. 2016) *1926 – Gyula Grosics, Hungarian footballer and manager (d. 2014) * 1926 – Dave Sands, Australian boxer (d. 1952) *1927 – Rolf Landauer, German-American physicist and academic (d. 1999) *1928 – Oscar Cabalén, Argentinian race car driver (d. 1967) * 1928 – Osmo Antero Wiio, Finnish journalist, academic, and politician (d. 2013) *1929 – Julien Chouinard, Canadian lawyer and judge (d. 1987) * 1929 – Eduard Zimmermann, German journalist (d. 2009) *1930 – Tibor Antalpéter, Hungarian volleyball player and diplomat, Hungarian Ambassador to the United Kingdom (d. 2012) * 1930 – Arthur E. Chase, American businessman and politician (d. 2015) * 1930 – Jim Loscutoff, American basketball player (d. 2015) *1931 – Isabel Martínez de Perón, Argentinian dancer and politician, 41st President of Argentina *1935 – Ali Nassirian, Iranian actor and screenwriter * 1935 – Martti Talvela, Finnish opera singer (d. 1989) * 1935 – Collin Wilcox, American actress (d. 2009) *1936 – David Brenner, American comedian, actor, and author (d. 2014) * 1936 – Gary Conway, American actor and screenwriter * 1936 – Claude Nobs, Swiss businessman, founded the Montreux Jazz Festival (d. 2013) *1937 – John Devitt, Australian swimmer * 1937 – David Newman, American director and screenwriter (d. 2003) *1938 – Frank J. Dodd, American businessman and politician, president of the New Jersey Senate (d. 2010) * 1938 – Birju Maharaj, Indian dancer and choreographer *1939 – Stan Lundine, American lawyer and politician, Lieutenant Governor of New York *1940 – George A. Romero, American director and producer *1941 – Jiří Raška, Czech skier and coach (d. 2012) * 1941 – John Steel, English drummer *1943 – Alberto João Jardim, Portuguese journalist and politician, 2nd President of the Regional Government of Madeira * 1943 – Wanda Rutkiewicz, Lithuanian-Polish mountaineer (d. 1992) * 1943 – Ken Thompson, American computer scientist and programmer, co-developed the B programming language *1947 – Dennis C. Blair, American admiral and politician, 3rd Director of National Intelligence * 1947 – Dan Quayle, American sergeant, lawyer, and politician, 44th Vice President of the United States *1948 – Alice Cooper, American singer-songwriter * 1948 – Rod Grams, American journalist and politician (d. 2013) * 1948 – Mienoumi Tsuyoshi, Japanese sumo wrestler *1949 – Michael Beck, American actor * 1949 – Rasim Delić, Bosnian general (d. 2010) *1951 – Patrick Bergin, Irish actor * 1951 – Dariush Eghbali, Iranian singer-songwriter *1952 – Jenny Shipley, New Zealand educator and politician, 36th Prime Minister of New Zealand * 1952 – Li Yinhe, Chinese sociologist and sexologist *1953 – Kitarō, Japanese keyboard player, composer, and producer *1955 – Mikuláš Dzurinda, Slovak politician, Prime Minister of Slovakia *1957 – Don Davis, American composer and conductor * 1957 – Evan Wolfson, American lawyer and activist *1958 – Tomasz Pacyński, Polish journalist and author (d. 2005) *1959 – Lawrence Taylor, American football player and sportscaster *1960 – Siobhan Dowd, English author and activist (d. 2007) * 1960 – Adrienne King, American actress, dancer, and painter * 1960 – Jonathan Larson, American composer and playwright (d. 1996) *1961 – Denis Savard, Canadian ice hockey player and coach *1962 – Clint Black, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer * 1962 – Stephen Hammond, English banker and politician *1966 – Viatcheslav Ekimov, Russian cyclist * 1966 – Kyōko Koizumi, Japanese actress and singer *1967 – Sergei Grinkov, Russian figure skater (d. 1995) *1970 – Gabrielle Anwar, English actress *1971 – Rob Corddry, American actor, producer, and screenwriter * 1971 – Eric Garcetti, American lieutenant and politician, 42nd Mayor of Los Angeles *1972 – Dara Ó Briain, Irish comedian and television host * 1972 – Giovanni Silva de Oliveira, Brazilian footballer and manager *1973 – Oscar De La Hoya, American boxer * 1973 – Manny Legace, Canadian ice hockey player and sportscaster *1975 – Natalie Imbruglia, Australian singer-songwriter *1977 – Gavin DeGraw, American singer-songwriter *1979 – Andrei Arlovski, Belarusian mixed martial artist and actor * 1979 – Giorgio Pantano, Italian race car driver *1980 – Kenta Kiritani, Japanese actor and singer * 1980 – Raimonds Vaikulis, Latvian basketball player *1981 – Jason Kapono, American basketball player * 1981 – Johan Vansummeren, Belgian cyclist *1982 – Chris Sabin, American wrestler * 1982 – Ivars Timermanis, Latvian basketball player * 1982 – Tomas Vaitkus, Lithuanian cyclist *1983 – Hannibal Buress, American stand-up comedian, actor, screenwriter * 1983 – Lee Stempniak, American ice hockey player *1984 – Sandeep Acharya, Indian singer (d. 2013) * 1984 – Mauricio Pinilla, Chilean footballer *1986 – Maximilian Götz, German race car driver * 1986 – Mahmudullah Riyad, Bangladeshi cricketer *1987 – Darren O'Dea, Irish footballer * 1987 – Lucie Šafářová, Czech tennis player *1988 – Carly Patterson, American gymnast and singer *1990 – Haruka Tomatsu, Japanese voice actress and singer *1993 – Bae Noo-ri, South Korean actress Deaths * 211 – Septimius Severus, Roman emperor (b. 145) * 708 – Pope Sisinnius (b. 650) * 856 – Rabanus Maurus, Frankish archbishop and theologian (b. 780) *1498 – Antonio del Pollaiolo, Italian artist (b. 1429/1433) *1508 – Conrad Celtes, German poet and scholar (b. 1459) *1555 – John Rogers, English clergyman and translator (b. 1505) *1590 – Gioseffo Zarlino, Italian composer and theorist (b. 1517) *1615 – Giambattista della Porta, Italian playwright and scholar (b. 1535) *1617 – Lodewijk Elzevir, Dutch publisher, co-founded the House of Elzevir (b. 1546) *1713 – Anthony Ashley-Cooper, 3rd Earl of Shaftesbury, English philosopher and politician (b. 1671) *1774 – Charles Marie de La Condamine, French mathematician and geographer (b. 1701) *1799 – Étienne-Louis Boullée, French architect and educator (b. 1728) *1781 – Josef Mysliveček, Czech composer (b. 1737) *1843 – Theodoros Kolokotronis, Greek general (b. 1770) *1894 – Adolphe Sax, Belgian instrument maker, invented the Saxophone (b. 1814) *1905 – Louis-Ernest Barrias, French sculptor and academic (b. 1841) *1926 – İskilipli Mehmed Atıf Hoca, Turkish author and scholar (b. 1875) *1928 – Hendrik Lorentz, Dutch physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1853) *1933 – Archibald Sayce, English linguist and educator (b. 1846) *1940 – Nikolai Yezhov, Russian police officer and politician (b. 1895) *1943 – Frank Calder, English-Canadian ice hockey player and journalist (b. 1877) *1944 – Arsen Kotsoyev, Russian author and translator (b. 1872) *1956 – Savielly Tartakower, Russian-French chess player, journalist, and author (b. 1887) *1958 – Henry Kuttner, American author and screenwriter (b. 1915) *1959 – Una O'Connor, Irish-American actress (b. 1880) *1968 – Neal Cassady, American novelist and poet (b. 1926) *1970 – Louise Bogan, American poet and critic (b. 1897) *1974 – Satyendra Nath Bose, Indian physicist, mathematician, and academic (b. 1894) *1975 – Louis Jordan, American singer-songwriter and saxophonist (Tympany Five) (b. 1908) *1982 – Alex Harvey, Scottish singer-songwriter and guitarist (b. 1935) * 1982 – Georg Konrad Morgen, German lawyer and judge (b. 1909) *1983 – Karen Carpenter, American singer and drummer (The Carpenters) (b. 1950) *1984 – Patrick Nagel, American painter and illustrator (b. 1945) *1987 – Liberace, American singer-songwriter and pianist, (b. 1919) * 1987 – Meena Keshwar Kamal, Afghan activist, founded the Revolutionary Association of the Women of Afghanistan (b. 1956) * 1987 – Carl Rogers, American psychologist and academic (b. 1902) *1990 – Whipper Billy Watson, Canadian-American wrestler and trainer (b. 1915) *1992 – John Dehner, American actor (b. 1915) * 1992 – Lisa Fonssagrives, Swedish fashion model (b. 1911) *1994 – Fred De Bruyne, Belgian cyclist and manager (b. 1930) *1995 – Patricia Highsmith, American author (b. 1921) *2000 – Carl Albert, American lawyer and politician, 54th Speaker of the United States House of Representatives (b. 1908) *2001 – J.J. Johnson, American trombonist and composer (b. 1924) * 2001 – Iannis Xenakis, Greek-French composer and architect (b. 1922) *2002 – Count Sigvard Bernadotte of Wisborg (b. 1907) *2003 – Benyoucef Benkhedda, Algerian pharmacist and politician (b. 1920) *2005 – Ossie Davis, American actor, director, and playwright (b. 1917) *2006 – Betty Friedan, American author and activist (b. 1921) *2007 – José Carlos Bauer, Brazilian footballer and manager (b. 1925) * 2007 – Ilya Kormiltsev, Russian-English poet and translator (b. 1959) * 2007 – Barbara McNair, American singer and actress (b. 1934) * 2007 – Jules Olitski, Ukrainian-American painter and sculptor (b. 1922) *2008 – Augusta Dabney, American actress (b. 1918) * 2008 – Stefan Meller, Polish academic and politician, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Poland (b. 1942) *2009 – Lux Interior, American singer-songwriter (The Cramps) (b. 1946) *2010 – Kostas Axelos, Greek-French philosopher and author (b. 1924) * 2010 – Helen Tobias-Duesberg, Estonian-American composer (b. 1919) *2011 – Martial Célestin, Haitian lawyer and politician, 1st Prime Minister of Haiti (b. 1913) *2012 – István Csurka, Hungarian journalist and politician (b. 1934) * 2012 – Florence Green, English soldier (b. 1901) * 2012 – Robert Daniel, American farmer, soldier, and politician (b. 1936) * 2012 – Mike deGruy, American director, producer, and cinematographer (b. 1951) *2013 – Donald Byrd, American trumpet player (b. 1932) * 2013 – Reg Presley, English singer-songwriter (b. 1941) *2014 – Keith Allen, Canadian-American ice hockey player, coach, and manager (b. 1923) * 2014 – Eugenio Corti, Italian soldier, author, and playwright (b. 1921) * 2014 – Dennis Lota, Zambian footballer (b. 1973) * 2014 – Wu Ma, Chinese actor, director, producer, and screenwriter (b. 1942) *2015 – Wes Cooley, American soldier and politician (b. 1932) * 2015 – Fitzhugh L. Fulton, American colonel and pilot (b. 1925) * 2015 – Koos Van Den Akker, Dutch-American fashion designer (b. 1939) *2016 – Edgar Mitchell, American captain, pilot, and astronaut (b. 1930) * 2016 – Maurice White, American singer-songwriter and producer (b. 1941) Holidays and observances *Christian feast day: **Andrew Corsini **Gilbert of Sempringham **John de Brito **Rabanus Maurus **Rimbert **Veronica **February 4 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics) *Earliest day on which Ash Wednesday can fall, while March 10 is the latest; celebrated on the first day of Lent (Christianity) *Day of the Armed Struggle (Angola) *Independence Day (Sri Lanka) *Rosa Parks Day (California and Missouri, United States) *World Cancer Day External links * BBC: On This Day * * Today in Canadian History Category:Days of the year Category:February